‘THE PHANTOM BRIDE’ (DS)

Please feel free to comment on my review.

Aboard an Ocean Liner to London with Tony and Cassandra

There does seem to be a 1920s vibe to this ‘Dark Shadows’ audio story! 🙂

In the fourth instalment of ‘The Tony and Cassandra Collection’ of ‘Dark Shadows’ audios by Big Finish, we have Jerry Lacy as Tony Peterson and Lara Parker as Cassandra Collins meeting ‘The Phantom Bride’ aboard a 1920s-styled ocean linear in the 1970s. This appealed to me once I heard it.

As you’ve probably gathered, I’m not one for horror. If it’s drama, I’m okay with it. If it’s horror on audio, that’s fine. But I wouldn’t say listening to the ‘Dark Shadows’ audios in ‘The Tony and Cassandra Collection’ has made me want to hear more, as I don’t think I’d be fully invested in them.

Not to say I haven’t enjoyed ‘The Tony and Cassandra Collection’ of audios so far. On the contrary, it’s been great to check out the first four stories in ‘The Tony and Cassandra Collection’ before revisiting ‘The Devil Cat’ with Sarah Sutton. It was why I first became interested in ‘Dark Shadows’. 🙂

I’m glad that through these audios I’ve been getting to know who Tony and Cassandra are as characters. Not sure if that would prompt me to hear more of their audios in ‘The Tony & Cassandra Mysteries’ series by Big Finish, but I wouldn’t deny the possibility if to listen to ‘The Devil Cat’ again.

However, I’m not sure I fully grasp the journey of Tony and Cassandra as characters. In ‘The Death Mask’, Tony is reunited with Cassandra and he resents her after what she did to him during the TV series. In ‘The Voodoo Amulet’, they reunite again where they solve another mystery together then.

In ‘The Last Stop’, we don’t know how they ended up together in a prison cell and there’s like only two scenes between Tony and Cassandra at the beginning and at the end of the story. I don’t know how Tony and Cassandra agreed to be full-on crime solvers together following ‘The Voodoo Amulet’.

There’s a significant gap between ‘The Voodoo Amulet’ and ‘The Last Stop’ in how Tony and Cassandra teamed up as a duo. Maybe I’m missing something, but it came across to me that Cassandra walked off in the night, making no commitment to be at Tony’s side in their crime solving.

Maybe if I saw the TV series, I’d be able to appreciate the soap opera atmosphere and the style of storytelling in order to understand how ‘Dark Shadows’ worked as a TV series and works as Big Finish audios. It’s not a major inconsistency, but I feel a gap needs to be filled in to appreciate the characters.

Anyway, in ‘The Phantom Bride’, Tony and Cassandra pass off as a newly-wed couple in order to solve the mystery of people dying aboard the ocean liner heading for London. It turns out a ghostly woman from 1929 is seeking vengeance. Tony and Cassandra must learn how and why it’s occurring.

I like how Tony and Cassandra interact in this story, especially since Tony seems closer to Cassandra compared to how he tried to distance himself from her in previous stories. He even admits to Cassandra that he’s enjoyed being in her company and he hopes they can spend more time together.

Cassandra isn’t that committed to a permanent relationship with Tony – both personal and maybe professional. This is due to the 3,000 years she’s spent as Angelique as well as Cassandra. There are ‘Dark Shadows’ stories featuring Lara Parker as Angelique where she lived in the 1700s and 1800s. 😐

I enjoyed the time jumping from the 1973 to 1929 where Tony and Cassandra were living the lives of past characters on the liner. As well as playing Tony and Cassandra, Jerry Lacy and Lara Parker also play the characters George Mayfield and Anna Covington, who were lovers aboard the 1920s liner. 🙂

In some respects, I think the George Mayfield and Anne Covington characters could be reflections on Tony and Cassandra’s characters and their relationship with each other. This is especially when Jerry Lacy and Lara Parker are performing them as lovers and when they are victims in the events of 1929.

Joining Jerry Lacy and Lara Parker are characters like Craig Daniel Adams as Captain James MacDonald, who sounds Irish in the audio story. There’s also Evelyn Adams as Leona Convington, who seems to be the instigator of the horrible murders being committed aboard the liner in 1973.

I must admit, I didn’t find Captain MacDonald’s character that interesting compared to Leona Covington. This might be due to Jerry Lacy and Lara Parker taking centre stage most of the time in the story, which I believe is what ‘Dark Shadows’ listeners are looking forward in hearing these tales.

By the way, Mark Thomas Passmore returns to write for Tony and Cassandra in this audio story. The story also happens to be directed by David Darlington and Darren Gross. David Darlington directed the UK side of this audio production in London, as Darren Gross directed the US side of things in L.A.

It was also eerie to hear a British voice in Leona Convington’s character, since Evelyn Adams plays her. For the most part, I’d been getting used to American voices in these ‘Dark Shadows’ audios in ‘The Tony and Cassandra Collection’. Then again, the ocean liner was heading for London after all. 🙂

I’m not sure what to make of the rest of the cast featured in this audio, since they have small roles to play in this. This includes people like Jack Chapman as Billy Reid, Barra Collins as Harry Duckworth, Simon Kent as Roy Fraser, Brigid Lohrey as Lois Tulley, and Christopher Ragland as Henry Mayfield. 🙂

I’m sure I heard Harry’s name being mentioned at the end of the story; I’m sure Lois Tulley said some lines in the story, and I’m sure Henry Mayfield was in a flashback with his son George, played by Jerry Lacy. But apart from that, I don’t know much about them as characters as they have little to do.

By the way, there are mentions of unseen Tony and Cassandra stories within the ‘Dark Shadows’ universe. They include being locked up in the basement of a Twin Pines department store; a case involving a headless spook at an abandoned airfield; and exorcising some banshee at some high rise.

I don’t know why Mark Thomas Passmore didn’t write all five stories of the Tony and Cassandra story arc in the ‘Dark Shadows’ audios by Big Finish, as opposed to him writing the first two stories; David Llewellyn writing the third; and Passmore writing the last two. It makes things so inconsistent.

If Mark Thomas Passmore wrote all five stories of the story arc, maybe the character progression of Tony and Cassandra becoming crime-solvers after Tony despised Cassandra at the beginning would have been consistent. ‘The Last Stop’ story could have included more of Tony and Cassandra together.

The story concludes with Tony and Cassandra managing to defeat Leona Convington and ending her terror aboard the ocean liner. They arrive in London and discuss their recent escapade at the White Rabbit Pub. By the way, the ocean liner featured in the story happens to be called the Raven Queen.

Once Tony and Cassandra have left the White Rabbit Pub, there’s a trailer promoting the ‘Beyond the Grave’ TV series in the pub. Stephen Kelly as Tom Lacey ad Asta Parry as Kate Ripperton make guest appearances in the story. They would feature prominently in the next audio ‘Beyond the Veil’.

At this point, I can’t tell you what happens next in ‘Beyond the Veil’, since I don’t own the audio. It doesn’t feature Tony and Cassandra as far as I’m concerned and there aren’t any ‘Doctor Who’ actors that interest me to check it out. I’m currently not in a big hurry to check out ‘Beyond the Veil’.

‘The Phantom Bride’ has been an enjoyable ‘Dark Shadows’ audio to listen to with Jerry Lacy as Tony Peterson and Lara Parker as Cassandra Collins. I enjoyed the 1920s-styled atmosphere aboard the ocean liner. So far, it’s intriguing how Tony and Cassandra’s relationship has developed by this stage.

It’s important to note most of the ‘Dark Shadows’ audios I’ve heard in ‘The Tony and Cassandra Collection’ have ended on more or less happier notes. That will change when it comes to checking out ‘The Devil Cat’, which I’m currently looking forward to revisiting, since Sarah Sutton appears in it.

After ‘The Phantom Bride’ in ‘The Tony and Cassandra Collection’, there’s a ‘coming soon’ trailer for ‘The Tony & Cassandra Mysteries’ series of ‘Dark Shadows’ audios with Lara Parker and Jerry Lacy.

‘The Phantom Bride’ (DS) rating – 7/10

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The previous story was ‘The Last Stop’ (DS) (Audio)	The next story is ‘The Devil Cat’ (DS) (Audio)
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